Imagine stepping into a time machine, propelled back to the desolate deserts of ancient Israel. Picture rocky terrains and vast, dry landscapes. Now, visualize yourself in the very shoes of a shepherd, undertaking the daunting task of guiding a flock to sustenance in such harsh conditions. Are you ready to embark on this journey? I'm your host Vic, and together, we will traverse the historical, cultural and geographical landscapes of David's time to decipher the profound metaphor of the LORD as a shepherd in Psalms 23.
Our adventure will take us through the intricate life of a shepherd, revealing the immense responsibility and ever-present dangers they faced. We will explore Bedouin and Levitical shepherds, their challenging environments, and the nurturing care they bestowed upon their flock. Through these explorations, we'll uncover the symbolism and deep connection between a shepherd and his sheep, and ultimately illuminate the relationship between David and Yahweh. Hold onto your seats, as this journey promises to shed a refreshing perspective on the timeless statement, "The Lord is my shepherd." Let's set off to understand this ancient text in a whole new light, making it personally relevant and insightful for you.
If you are interested in Holly Culhane's work on Shepherds and how to lead, check out her links below.
https://presencepoint.com/blog/presence-by-holly-culhane/
https://presencepoint.com/blog/demonstrating-provision/
https://presencepoint.com/blog/protection-blog/
Episode Transcript
Welcome to our ancient future story, navigating
Scripture through the Eyes ofFamily, where I share with you
biblical stories like a familymember would share a story
around a dinner table.
As children of God, we are apart of God's family and His
family story has a lot ofhistory.
Each week we will take onestory and talk about it the
cultural, historical,geographical and sociological
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impacts.
We will be looking at thesestories through the perspective
of our ancestors, through thelens of ancient times, in hopes
of learning more about ourfamily.
This is our ancient futurestory.
Welcome back to our ancientfuture story.
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I'm Vic and I am so excited toshare with you a new story.
Today we will begin a newseries as we dive into the most
recited chapter of Scripture,psalms 23.
Over the next few weeks we willbe going verse by verse of this
famous passage.
So today we will start withverse 1.
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd.
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I shall not want.
First, it is important for us toknow that Psalms 23 is a Psalm
written by David during hiskingship, likely around the year
1000 BC.
Some scholars have suggestedthat David was reminiscing on
his time in the shepherd'sfields.
While that does seem likely.
It is also possible that Davidis trying to express his
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relationship with God bycomparing a sheep's relationship
to its shepherd, an analogythat David knew intimately.
After all, he was a shepherduntil he killed Goliath.
So this Psalm is a way ofexpressing his relationship to
Yahweh.
So sit back, grab a cup ofcoffee or something to drink and
get ready to dive into Psalms23.
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If you grew up in church, youprobably have heard this song
many, many times.
You probably memorized it.
Or even if you didn't grow upin church, you probably have
heard this a few times.
But there are a few things Ithink are interesting and will
help shape the context of thisstory for us.
First location Our story takesplace in the shepherds fields.
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Keep in mind, shepherds fieldsin Israel are not lush or green.
They are in the middle of thedesert, with so many rocks.
In fact, there was not muchgreen for sheep to eat, so it
was the shepherd's job to guidethem to places where green could
be found.
But we will talk more aboutthat in a few weeks, but for now
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, when you picture a shepherd'sfield, think desert on the side
of a mountain with a ton ofrocks.
That is where David lived.
So let's break down this verse.
The first two words are theLord.
In our English translations ofthe Bible we see the word Lord
in many places.
Depending on whether or not theword is fully capitalized or
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not, we'll determine thedefinition of the word.
Lord in its general meaningmeans master.
So to call someone Lord meansto put them in a position of
authority over you.
But Lord, spelled in all caps,is the word Yahweh, and when
Jewish people read it, they sayAdonai, which means master in
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Hebrew.
They do this because God's nameYahweh is so holy that to write
it or speak it, they have to gothrough this very rigorous
process to be cleansed everysingle time.
Every time they go to write itor speak it, they must be
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cleansed.
That means that if the nameYahweh needed to be written a
few times in a paragraph, ascribe would have to stop, go
cleanse themselves and then comeback and write the name over
and over again.
So, as a way to avoid thisconstant need to be cleansed,
while reading, they say Adonaiinstead.
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So the verse would read Adonaiis my shepherd.
I shall not want.
But who is the Lord they arereferring to?
As I said, lord in all caps isthe name Yahweh, the God of
Abraham, isaac and Jacob.
The same God who spoke toAbraham is the same as the one
David knew intimately.
David is putting Yahweh in theshepherd position, of authority
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over his life, making himselfthe sheep in this metaphor.
So Yahweh is my shepherd.
Now, the next part of thisverse is my shepherd.
So it is important for us totake a few minutes to find out
what it was like to be ashepherd.
First, it is important for us toknow that there are two types
of shepherds Bedouin shepherdsand Levitical shepherds.
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Bedouin means move.
These shepherds were morelikely nomadic.
They would travel longdistances to find sufficient
food for their herd, whereas theLevitical shepherds were the
shepherds from the tribe of Levi.
These shepherds were tasked toraise the lambs for sacrifice.
They are stationed in Bethlehem.
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Shepherding was a skill that waslearned as a child, so boys and
girls would start young andtake the flock of sheep out to
the field to find food and water.
It would be up to the child, orsometimes preteens, to protect
their flock from wild animals.
These young shepherds werecalled undershepherds and they
worked for the master shepherd,likely their father, who owned
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the entire flock.
So a young undershepherd wouldset out with the flock in search
of food and water for the sheep, often traveling a day or two
away from home.
These undershepherds would weara tunic made out of camel hair
to act as a coat during the dayand a blanket on cold nights,
along with a headcloth toprotect their head and neck from
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the desert sun.
A shepherd would be out in thefield in all weather conditions,
but if the weather got too badwhile in the fields they would
find natural caves and put theirsheep inside to protect them.
On these long journeys,shepherds would take food like
dates, figs, bread, cheese andolive in their script.
Script is sometimes translatedas satchel.
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This was a bag made out ofdried animal skin that would
hold necessities like food fortheir long journeys.
A shepherd would also bringalong some weapons in case they
came across some wild animalswho wanted to attack the flock.
These weapons included aslingshot and a shepherd's staff
, both used quite frequentlywhile out in the fields, and
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those some shepherds were knownto bring along a flute to play.
We know David brought anapproximate period of time
unless or would have had to dowith looking the sheep and
bringing around a fireplace harp.
So now that we know a little bitmore about the life of a
Bedouin shepherd, let's talkabout the role of a shepherd.
What is their purpose?
The quick answer is to takecare of and protect the sheep.
But Holly Culhane of PresentPoint Workshop has done much
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research and narrowed down therole of a shepherd to three main
things presence, provision andprotection.
First, let's talk about thepresence.
What does the presence of theshepherd bring to the flock?
Culhane defines presence as athand, physically and emotionally
available and engaged.
That means that every day theshepherd gets up and engages
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with the flock.
This is important.
An immediate contact each dayreminds the sheep that their
shepherd is still here and hasnot left them.
Dr Tim Lanick ofshepherdleadercom says sheep
scatter without a shepherd.
They run when they sense danger.
In fact, their only hope forprotection comes from the
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shepherd's presence.
The bonding that occurs as aresult of around the clock care
is remarkable.
Sheep are not known for theirintelligence, but they find
peace and comfort in knowingthat their shepherd is present
and will take care of all oftheir needs.
The second role of a shepherd,according to Holly and Culhane,
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is provision, and she definesprovision as to take care of, or
to furnish or supply a need ofanother.
She goes on to say that ashepherd is always attuned to
the needs of their sheep.
In fact, a good shepherd knowstheir flock so well that in an
instant they know if their sheepis hurt, ill or in need of
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special attention.
A provisional shepherd isdeeply connected to what their
sheep need.
Lastly, the third role of ashepherd is protection.
Again, holly and Culhanedefines protection as the act of
safeguarding, shielding anotherfrom harm or guarding against
danger.
But this does not just apply towild animals.
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In fact, it spans to even thelittle things like making sure
ahead of time the area they willlead the flock to graze in is
not poisoned, as well asensuring the water is safe to
drink and that the path theywill take the flock to is not
too dangerous that the sheepcould get hurt.
All of these things fall intothis category of protection.
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The shepherd is always ensuringthe safety of their sheep.
So, as David is writing Psalms23-1, he says Yahweh is my
shepherd, meaning the God ofAbraham, isaac, and Jacob is
taking on the role of a shepherd.
Yahweh is present withprovisional over and protecting
David.
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This is how David sees hisrelationship with Yahweh.
He has peace because Yahweh iswith him.
He doesn't worry because Yahwehis providing what he needs.
He is not scared because heknows that Yahweh is protecting
him from any and all dangers.
What an amazing relationshipDavid has with Yahweh.
And this leads us into the lastpart of this verse.
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I shall not want, or sometranslations say I lack nothing.
We've already talked about theprovisional role of a shepherd,
ensuring that every need of thesheep is taken care of.
But what does that really looklike in actuality?
What does a shepherd do if asheep needs more attention than
just clean water and fresh grass?
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Sometimes in a flock, themother E will reject one of the
lambs.
If this happens, she will nevertake it back.
Sometimes this is because thelamb is injured or sick and the
mother doesn't want anything todo with it.
These sheep are called bummerlambs and unless the shepherd
intervenes, the lamb will die.
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But the shepherd will pick upthe lamb, bring it into their
home and raise it.
They will hand, feed it, wrapit in blankets, cuddle it until
the lamb is strong enough torejoin the herd.
But the bummer lamb neverforgets the kindness of the
shepherd.
In fact, the bummer lambfollows the shepherd the closest
because they know theshepherd's voice better than any
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of the other sheep.
Because when they were broken,rejected and alone, the shepherd
provided for them everythingthat they need.
So when David writes this Ishall not want, he means he had
all of his needs met.
David was a bummer lamb.
He was rejected by his family,outcasted to the shepherd fields
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.
But Yahweh met him there, tookhim in, protected him, and David
never forgot the kindness ofhis shepherd.
He knew the voice and followedso closely that he is named a
man after God's own heart.
So how does this story point toJesus?
Jesus is our shepherd.
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He treats us the same as aloving shepherd would treat
their sheep.
We live and operate under hispresence, provision and
protection.
And, just like the bummer lambs, when we were rejected,
outcasted and left without hope,jesus came to our rescue.
He took us in, raised us up.
We know his voice and we followhim closely because we have an
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intimate relationship with him.
He is our shepherd and we arehis sheep.
Now, before we go, I want us toclose our time together by
reading the Scripture in Psalms23.
And I hope, as we listen to it,that we will be able to embrace
all that we have learned andthat this passage will be
illuminated for us.
Let's read the Lord is myshepherd.
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I shall not want.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode of our HM Future
Story.
I hope that you really enjoyedit.
This episode was written andproduced by me.
Vic Hartman Music is embarkingon an adventure by Evan
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MacDonald.
Please support the show bysubscribing and rating us, and
be sure to follow us onInstagram and Facebook at our HM
Future Story.
See you next time, bye.
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